The New Era of Peace is Shattered
by Doomblade
Summary: Madara is defeated, and the shinobi world is enjoying an era of calm unknown to them beforehand. Yet all their sacrifices are still burned into their minds and healing has been slow to many. Now, a new threat is emerging within the Land of Water, one that threatens to rip apart the peace Naruto and his comrades had fought so hard to achieve. Rated T to be safe. I do not own Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so im trying to get my posting schedule straight. I want to stat a couple new stories so i can keep going back and forth between them and keep my interest in writing fresh. Just focusing on Havoc kills me sometimes cause i will just randomly get writers block and then where do i go? So, my Skyrim story will begin soon but I also wanted to do another Naruto story. I hope you all will enjoy! :)**

**-Deep inside the land of Water-**

Shikamaru Nara ran as fast as his exhausted legs could carry him. His entire body burned with pain from his injuries. He knew if he didn't get back with this intel, the land of fire, and the Hidden Leaf would be caught totally off guard for what was about to come. He felt a kunai knife whiz past his face barely missing. "Damn it! When did they-" his next words caught in his throat as a shinobi kicked him in the ribs after flashing in front of him. He fell clutching them, his breath coming in pained gasps now.

He couldn't make out the mans face. It was hidden behind a shroud, but he did notice one detail. The Mist village headband with a line scratched through it. Great. So not only were shinobi involved in this whole thing, rouge ninja were. What a drag. Next time Naruto was getting the intel gathering mission. "I'll give you some credit where it's due. You almost had us with your little decoy. But I think you underestimate how low on chakra you were. It disappeared a bit ago. Tracking you from there was easy." he said in a low, almost hissing voice that filled the foggy air around them. All was dead quiet save for those words. Where were Ino and Chouji?

"I hope you know...your little plan won't...work. You can't overthrow entire countries...just by spreading rumours." At this the ninja laughed loudly. Shikamarus eyebrows crossed. "Hey what's so damn funny?" he snapped. The ninjas cold green eyes locked with his. A hand went around his throat.

"It's far from just spreading rumours. It's all in that scroll you took from us. Now I'll finish you off and be gone from this place before-" his head snapped up as faintly in the distance he saw three shapes approaching. Two about the boys height, and one slightly taller, likely the squad leader. Shikamaru tried to call out but the hand on his throat had cut off his air. New plan. In the brief moment of hesitation, Shikamaru kicked him off and with the last of his spare chakra made another clone tossing the scroll to him.

"Go!" he ordered managing to stand up shakily. He turned around and felt the ninja bury his kunai deep into his gut. "D-Damn y-you..." he said through gritted teeth. The ninja smirked as he seemed to fade away into the mist. He saw the others reach his clone and heard Ino's frantic voice. Heh. Typical women flipping out like that...wonder if she realizes that ain't me so shes wasting all her energy. The clone pointed in his direction before disappearing. The others were by his side in seconds.

"Shikamaru!" Ino said lifting his head, placing her pack under it for a pillow while she went to work healing his injuries. Chouji watched this in growing concern, as did Yamato. "Captain Yamato, are they still here? Whoever did this?" Ino whispered as her face showed more concern by the moment. Why wasn't the wound close up? Yamato shook his head slowly.

"No...I don't believe so. Ino, can you get him up? We shouldn't be out in this area too long. People will come to check out the commotion soon. " he said leaning down on Shikamarus other side. Ino shook her head which only deepened Yamatos concern. "What's wrong with this...? That wound.."

"It's not closing and I have no idea why. The cells wont repair properly. And im certain I've not used too much chakra to be able to do this properly. If anything, the bleeding is only getting worse." she said, her hands glowed brighter as she tried harder. Nothing. Shikamaru's face was beginning to grow pale from blood loss. Chouji handed her some bandages

"Just get these wrapped around the wound. " he said quickly. He sighed when Ino shook her head. "I don't like it any more than you do Ino but Yamato is right. We shouldn't be here any longer than we need too, and if you can't fix it, it won't do us any good for you to exhaust yourself." he said. After Yamato nodded his agreement, Ino sighed and quickly applied the bandages. They immediately became soaked in blood but they held. Yamato lifted him up and in a blink they were headed back toward the land of Fire.

The ninja who had stabbed Shikamaru and his comrade watched this with amusement. "Why do we not just take them now?" his friend said. The green-eyed ninja shook his head. "Why not? It would not be a challenge at all. And frankly my sword arm is getting tired from all this waiting around"

"Patience. Our orders were to get the scroll back. In that, we failed. But it matters not. The Leaf may have the scroll, but they are far too late to stop our plan. By the time they decipher symbols, it will be too late. Then we will see to the destruction of all leaf ninja." he said with a smirk

**And there is chapter one! I hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you did as it is always appreciated very much. and I will see ya'll next time**

**Much love, **

**Doomblade**


	2. Chapter 2

**So im glad i already have a review and 2 follows on this story. Thats awesome to see after only a day or two, so i figured id get this next chapter cranked out as soon as i was able. Thankfully im off work this week so i have plenty of time to be writing :)**

**-The Hidden Leaf village, 5 days later-**

Tsunade's brow furrowed as she read over the medical reports for Shikamaru. "Strange...so we haven't been able to identify the toxin he was given?" She asked. Shizune and Sakura shook their heads making the Hokage sigh heavily. "Very well then..keep him under very close observation until further notice. " again they nodded and left. Tsunade folded her hands as they left. "How odd...I thought I'd seen every poison assassin ninja favor using. But..to have one that not only illudes all known antidotes and keep destryoing cells as if were not even making any efforts..whoever we are dealing with here is beyond conventional use"

Sakura and Shizune exhanged a worried look as they made their way down the hallway. "How is Naruto holding up...all things considered?" she asked quietly. Sakura kept her eyes locked with the ground. "I understand...losing your squad your first time out as a mission leader...it's probably rough" she said softly. Sakura shook her head.

"I haven't seen him this sad in some time...Sasuke say's he even stopped showing up to the Jounin meetings. Besides me, I don't even think he talks to anyone anymore. Im worried Shizune..it's been two weeks. He should be at least a little better but he just isn't. " She sighed. Shizune placed a hand on her shoulder making her look up. A thin smile came onto her face.

"Naruto is resislent if nothing else. I promise. He'll get through this and be better than ever" She said. Sakura smiled finally and nodded. They walked out onto the street from the Hokage's building. "Just be there for him. It's all you can do. I should head to the hospital with Lady Tsunades orders."

" I should probably go as well. Temari is supposed to be arriving and Ive been told to take her straight to the hospital. See you there." Sakura said leaving with a bow. She slowly made her way over towards the gate. She hoped Shizune was right. She couldn't stand seeing Naruto like this. Things were supposed to be better after the war. And, for the most part they had been. No major conflicts, no Akastsuki. You had isolated incidents of course, and that had been what happened to Naruto's team. With Madara gone, the shinobi had no common enemies anymore, and sure enough disputes soon grew. The more things change the more they stayed the same. She heard a irritated voice at the gate as she approached

"I don't give a damn about your procedures. You take me to where their keeping Shikamaru now or I promise you'll regret it." Temari snapped at the guard. Her fist was clenched tightly at her sides. Sakura slowly made her way over and Temari relaxed a bit seeing a familiar face. "Sakura tell him to let me pass." She said in a slightly calmer tone. Sakura nodded to the guard.

"It's alright, I'm the escort you were waiting on." She confirmed. The guard nodded, relieved it seemed to have Temari off his back. Sakura and her made their way towards the hospital. "Temari you need to relax a little bit. You were told about the tighter security around here." she said lightly. Temari heaved a sigh. "I know your worried about Shikamaru. But right now, you need to keep it together." Temari nodded after a short time.

"Your right. You think I would know better by now. But in al seriousness...how is he?" She asked. Sakura hesitated for a moment which made fear creep into Temari's mind all over again. "Sakura?" she repeated. Sakura sighed.

"We aren't sure yet Temari. The actual stab wound itself probably wouldn't be an issue in normal circumstances. The blade didn't go deep enough to cause critical damage, and Ino could have fixed it right there. But..the kunai was covered in some poison. One we haven't encountered before, and one that's resistant to every type of antidote we have on record. Whoever made it is an expert in it. It damages the cells just as quick as we can heal them. Fix the damage one day, those same cells will be damaged tommorow, maybe having spread further. Even Lady Shizune, then Tsunade struggled to make any progress. But I promise, were doing everything we can."

Temari walked along in silence for a while after that. Her mind was racing. Posion. She might have figured. Shikamaru, idiotic as she thought he could be wouldn't get taken down by a simple kunai wound. She looked at Sakura again as they rounded the corner, the hospital coming into view. "Do you think he'll survive...?"

Sakura stopped dead. She was unsure of how to approach that one. "Well...as I said before, we've never encountered this toxin before, so the rate it could take to come up with an antidote could vary-" Temari glared at her making her sigh again. "I'll level with you Temari...its unlikely right now. If we don't discover something soon, eventually just repairing whats already been done won't be enough with how fast this thing moves. He may die. "

The color drained from Temari's face and her eyes widened. "D-die...? No...no that can't happen. " she stuttered out. Sakura said nothing. Temari couldn't wrap her mind around the possibility of Shikamaru being gone. She refused too. "It won't happen. you guys will find something. You always do." she said, although she was unsure who she was trying to convince. Sakura or herself.

"Let's just go see him" Sakura said. Temari nodded and followed. They made their way into the lobby and down the hall. "For what it's worth I understand. If it was Naruto in Shikamaru's place...I don't know what I would do." she admitted. Temari gave her a little nudge, a tiny grin on her face now.

"So how are you and the goofball doing? When Kankuro told me I didn't want to believe him." she said. Sakura's cheeks flushed a little bit which drew a small laugh out of Temari. "Well?"

"Were fine, thanks. I still can't believe some people had bets on us. I mean for crying out loud, I thought everyone was thinking I hated Naruto. Come to find out they were making bets out of our love lifes. Embarassing to say the least. But.." she smiled softly. "Im glad I finally realized how much he means to me. I wouldn't trade him for anybody. A lot like you and Shikamaru." she said nudging her back. Temari blushed this time but they came to the door before she could respond. Sakura opened it and they made their way in. Shizune looked up from the healing. "Lady Shizune..how is he? Any changes?"

"I wish I could say yes. The cells we repaired yesterday are already damaged again, with more being spread too even after that. This is a endless cycle..and remember what Lady Tsunade taught you. You can only regenerate a bodys cells a set number of times. If sHikamaru lives through this...weve probably shaved a year or so off his lifespan already."

"My Lady maybe we shouldn't speak like that with Temari here..?" Sakura said nervously. Temari didn't react however. She made her way over and scooted a chair beside Shiakmaru. Shizune moved out of the way. "We'll leave you alone with him for a bit. Assuming theres no further need too..." she trailed off glancing at Shizune who nodded

"He should be stable for the rest of the day. Let's go Sakura." she said quickly. As she clicked the door closed she turned to face Sakura. "Im sorry. I forgot how..attached Temari seems to have gotten to him lately. Anyway, Tsunade sent word, and a descirption of the symptoms to the Sand village. Maybe Kankuro and the others can figure out something. In the meantime, we think we found a mixture of two different antidotes that slows the posion down enough to manage it. "

"That's good. Are we anywhere near finding who did this?" Sakura asked.

"Unfortunately not. We sent requests to the Mizukage to send ANBU sqauds to search for them, but we haven't heard back. In fact, we haven't heard of anything shinobi related that have been leaving the Land of Water. Something odd is happening. But we can't send more people without a immediate threat to our village. It would violate the terms we all agreed to after the war."

"Well...keep me update Shizune. Im going to see Naruto. Maybe he'll want to go eat something, though I doubt it." she said bowing and heading out the door. Sakura saw Chouji and Ino walk past her, but they didn't speak. And she didn't want to bother them right now. She turned onto the proper street and headed towards Naruto's apartment.

**Wanted to make this next update a bit longer. Hope you all like it**

Leave a review if you wanna guys, it really does help out :)

See ya'll next time

Much love,

Doomblade


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so i normally dont post two updates in one day, but this is a exception I'll happily make. We'll also get a peek at what the bad guys have been up too :)**

**-Narutos apartment-**

Naruto rolled out of bed at the sound of his doorbell rang. He groaned and grabbed a old white shirt, slipping it on quickly. "Alright...I'm coming already." he said opening the door. His eyes lit up a little seeing Sakura smiling at him. "Come on in." he said at once. Sakura smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she walked over sitting on the couch in the center of the room. Naruto sat beside her and leaned back. "So your back a little early. I figured granny Tsunade would keep you a little later." he said

"What? I can't take off a couple hours early to see my boyfriend?" she pretended to pout. She couldn't hold back a laugh when Naruto started stuttering out for a reply. "It's fine Naruto. I just wanted to come by and see if you were feeling any better." she said. She frowned when his eyes dulled a bit and he stared at the floor. "Naruto...you can't keep blaming yourself this way. What happened was not your fault." Naruto wiped his eyes as he looked up a little.

"Yes it was. I should have known wether or not we were walking into a trap. I didn't think they would outnumber us by so much..and Sukuro and Jinta paid the price for my stupidity. " he said choking back a tight sob inside his chest. Sakura wrapped an arm around his waist but Naruto didn't stop shaking. "I wake up every damn night since it happened...I see their faces in my dreams..looking at me..mocking me...and then i remember Sukuro had just had a child and I feel like and even bigger piece of shit. " he said punching the table so it cracked around his fist. Sakura made him look at her now.

"Naruto you made no errors. What happened to your squad was a result of misinformation. If anybody is responsible for you not knowing the enemies correct numbers its our intellegience division. They dropped the ball, not you. Your a hero Naruto. No one in this village hates you for what happened. Jinta and Sukuros families even told you they forgive you, so why can you not forgive yourself? Please..don't do this. Don't tear yourself apart with what you could have done. You used so much charkra from the fox trying to stabalize them you nearly passed out yourself. You did everything you could for them. They were proud to work with you. Remember that."

Naruto's eyes were watering by now. "S-Sakura..." he whispered. She was right of course..he was acting stupid. Did he think the life of a shinobi was going to get any better now that Madara was gone? As long as the shinobi way of life exsists, there will likely always be hatred. And there still was. Death was apart of the job. And he would have to get over it eventually or else his first squad would be his last. Even Tsunade wouldn't give him another squad mission in the state he's in. "I love you Sakura.." he said softly, finally smiling his usual grin. Sakura smiled wider and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She giggled at the look on his face.

"I love you too. Now come on. After sulking around for so long, you owe me a date. Let's go." she said dragging him up. Naruto chuckled and quickly changed into his orange and black clothes including his green jounin vest. "Let's get some ramen. Your buying" she winked making him chuckle as they made thier way down the stairs and onto the roads. Naruto smiled as a few children ran by him. "Your still mr hero to all the kids huh?" she teased lightly

"Yeah...it's funny. You asked me three years ago if that would be the case I'd have called you insane. I knew I was going to be a great ninja someday, but..to have people be this happy just to see me around..its more than I ever could have hoped for." he smiled taking her hand as they kept walking. Sakura leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Im just sorry I always acted like you weren't there when we were genin. That wasn't right Naruto." she said softly. Naruto smiled down at her as they made their way into Ichiraku's

"Ancient history as far as I'm concerned." he said as they sat down. Teuchi walked out and smiled at the two of them. "Well well, it's about time my favorite customer came back in for a visit. And you brought your lady friend. Even better. What will you too have?" he asked holding up a notepad. Sakura ordered a small miso ramen and Naruto a large one. Suddenly he felt like he hadn't eaten in a decade. "Be right out with it" Teuchi said disappearing to the back. Naruto sniffed the air happily.

"Ahh...I missed this place so much. Boy if I had a nickel for every dime I spent here..." he said. He noticed Sakura staring off in the direction of the hospital. He nudged her arm a bit. "How is Shikamaru doing? Konohamaru stopped by earlier and said he's about the same. " Sakura have him a funny look. "what? He's friends with one of the interns or something I don't know." Sakura sighed

"Well then you already know. Temari is with him right now. She's worried sick Naruto, but you'd never know it. When she went pale hearing how bad it was..that was the only moment her hiding it failed. She need's him around that much is obvious. But as to wether the feeling is mutal well...I can't read Shikamaru's mind. I hope so though." she said. Naruto smiled and nodded. "huh? You know something don't you?". Naruto chuckled.

"Oh yeah. Shikamaru is nuts about her. Like you said though you gotta look carefully. I think that when he's better, which he will be, we need to...move the process along a bit" he smirked. Sakura groaned. "What?"

"Please not again Naruto. Last time you tried playing matchmaker, the guy and Ino about tore a building down arguing with each other. Just let those two sort it out for themselves. It's what we had to do. " she said as their ramen arrived. Naruto nodded and instantly began digging in, slurping down the noodles faster than she'd seen in a while. After a minute she smacked the back of his head. "Don't eat like a monkey Naruto" she scolded

"Gee. Thanks. Mom." he said back making her eyes narrow. He quickly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh...what I mean is...I..." sakura politely finished her food. She stood up and smirked. "Oh boy..."

"Just for that, you don't get a kiss the rest of the day." she said hurrying off. Naruto's jaw dropped and he quickly dug out his wallet dropping the money on the counter for the ramen.

"Aw cmon Sakura! Im sorry!" he trailed off as he chased her. Teuchi pocketed the money with a chuckled as he watched the two of them vanish from sight.

"Some thing's never change" he said going in back.

**-Meanwhile in the Hidden Mist Village-**

The ninja who had attacked Shikamaru quietly slipped into the shack and lifted up the panel which lead to their hideout. He dropped down and sealed the entrance. He quietly made his way down the freshly dug tunnel. "The time draws near...soon, we will succeed where so many have failed before us." he whispered to himself. The tunnel opened up into a big area. His fellow conspirators glared at him from their seats. "Forgive my being late" he said.

"That is starting to become and annoying habit of yours Kenji." The leader said in a deep voice. Kenji shook it off as mere grumblings and took his seat without a word. "Now then...we have our man inside the Mizukages personal bodyguard. The little events weve been causing had their desired effect. The whole village is on lockdown. No shinobi leave the land of water until further notice. " he pointed to a map. "When they move the Mizukage to her next safe spot, that's when we attack. And in the chaos, our inside man, her personel advisor Kenta puts a kunai through her neck. " he said with a smirk. Kenji however raised his hand. "What?"

"That is a solid plan Hizan. What I question, however, is how reliable of a double agent is this Kenta? If he flips, he tells the Mizukage and the whole plan is shot. We may never get another chance like this. We need to be certain." he said. Hizan nodded.

"I understand your concerns. But i assure you all, Kenta see's things our way. Once he does this, Onagi will forge the documents needed to secure Kenta as the Mizukages succesor. Then...with the power of a whole village behind us, we will see the leaf village burned into cinders benath our feet. You all have your assignments. Meet at the ambush spot in two days. The shinobi world is about to be torn apart by war once again. And we, the brotherhood, will be the spark that ignites the tinderbox."

**Phew...just got this time in done for dinner. Will post after I eat. Anyways, thank you all so much for reading.**

**Please leave a review if your enjoying it**

**See ya'll next time**

**Much love, **

**Doomblade**


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